Home > Letters to CRWalt Kurtz On Maybe I Should Shut Up About My Past Chicago Con Experience And Talk About Their PRposted August 11, 2011

is it possible for you to ever write about Wizard's now-abysmal Chicago show without referencing your past experiences? those experiences are now irrelevant when talking about this show.

and does this statement in the press release not strike you as something worth discussing?:

"In what is believed to be the largest single gathering of creative talent ever at a comics convention"

really? guess that doesn't catch your eye when you are all misty thinking about a past that is not coming back. move along...

Tom Spurgeon: Thanks, Walt. Points taken. The reason I bring up my past experiences is that I think there are structural reasons why Wizard's Chicago show hangs on, factors of access and tradition that I think were also factors that reared their head in the other direction in the C2E2 show's first rough year. Plus, hey, my blog. I'm not really misty-eyed over those days, but I do think there's a tendency in comics to forget what an awesome and idiosyncratically crafted thing a convention can be to a fan and that many commentators now judge such shows based almost solely on the experience they offer professionals and press people in the context of a half-dozen similar experiences.

As for the PR, if I started fighting with Wizard over PR claims, I'd never do anything else. But yeah, that's fucking stupid.